A Winnipeg woman sobbed in court as she admitted to helping her son manufacture and traffic 3D-printed firearms while he was behind bars serving a double-digit prison sentence.
Twyla Ellison, 45, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count each of manufacturing and trafficking firearms. She will return to court Feb. 21 when Crown and defence lawyers will jointly recommend she be sentenced to three years in prison, the mandatory minimum sentence for her crimes.
“You understand that on Feb. 21, you will be going to prison?” provincial court Judge Kelly Moar asked Ellison.
“Yes,” Ellison said through tears as a supporter gently rubbed her back.
Ellison’s son, Blake Ellison-Crate, pleaded guilty last year to making and trafficking so-called ghost guns on the city’s black market and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, believed at the time to be the longest sentence in Canada for weapon offences involving a 3D printer.
One of the firearms involved was used in the shooting of two boys at the Red River Ex in 2022. Another was found in the home of two men later convicted of second-degree murder in the April 2022 killing of St. Norbert resident Brandon Richard.
Analysis of Ellison-Crate’s electronic devices around the same time revealed he had recruited people through Kijiji to 3D-print handgun receivers for him. Ellison-Crate provided the recruits with the files he wanted printed under the guise they were video game controllers. He sourced other parts from individuals and companies in Manitoba and out of province.
Videos found on his cellphone showed him tooling and assembling the weapons in his bathroom.
Months after Ellison-Crate was sentenced, he conspired with another man on the outside, Michael Rivers, to continue manufacturing the illegal firearms.
Ellison-Crate used a secret cellphone to order gun parts online and had them shipped to his girlfriend’s home.
Rivers, it is alleged, would then pick up the parts, with Ellison-Crate providing him direction on how to assemble them into complete guns using a 3D printer. Ellison-Crate then arranged for the sale of the firearms through his prison network.
According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court Tuesday, Ellison-Crate enlisted his mother’s help raising advance funds for manufacturing the weapons, co-ordinating their transfer to buyers and other hands-on activities.
“While the accused was initially unaware that the financial assistance she was providing to Ellison-Crate and Rivers was being used to support criminal activity, she later became fully aware of the firearms manufacturing and trafficking scheme and became directly involved in the endeavour,” Crown attorney Ari Millo told court, reading from the agreed statement of facts.
Between November and December 2023, Ellison “communicated directly via text messages and phone calls with Ellison-Crate … for the purposes of arranging his finances and passing instructions to Rivers and other co-conspirators,” Millo said.
On three occasions in November 2023, Ellison deposited a total of $8,400 into Ellison-Crate’s bank account for the purchase of firearm components.
Police executed a search warrant at Ellison’s Elmwood home in March and seized a computer containing files for 3D models of firearm components and 3D printer slicing software.
Ellison-Crate pleaded guilty in July to one count each of manufacturing and trafficking firearms while in prison and was sentenced to another 10 years in custody.
Ellison remains free on bail.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.